200 gallon aquarium upstairs?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
From the link I posted earlier............

In the United States the minimum design floor live loads are stipulated in pounds per square foot (psf) by either state or local building codes. An example of typical design live loads might be 200 or 150 psf for a storage warehouse, 100 psf for a public meeting room, 50 psf for an office and 40 psf for a single family residence or apartment building. So, your home should be able to safely support a uniform live load of at least 40 psf. But keep in mind that this design live load is theoretically spread uniformly over the entire floor from wall to wall throughout your entire house. It is not a maximum load on any given area of the floor, it is just a theoretical average load that is used to design the floor for loads that are initially unknown. Some people find this confusing because in reality it is not the floor pressure (in psf) that matters at all, it is the floor load in pounds that really creates the stress in the primary structural framing members.
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For those that haven't read that link, you might want to before offering advice.
 
RD thank you for the reply, and it should have been more clear. If the main living area is built for 40 psf your bedrooms are rated for 30 psf. On most new houses they are built to the minimum to save on lumber costs. If you have your house plans that it was built to you will be able to tell what lumber was used, or you can call your local building department and see what your bedroom floor is rated for. Then you can take the square footage of the tank and divide that by the weight of the tank and that will give you your psf or pounds per square foot.
 
My 160 comes in @ 1303 lbs with just water. With the glass makes it 1703 LBS. Sand, plants, filters, fish and anything else I forgot should bring it to a ton total.
I put 4x4 posts under it in the basement. cut just a touch long that they needed drove in with a 12 lbs sledge.

When I filled the tank there wasn't nor has there been a single creak out of the floor. it's right next to the front door, it still swings and closes like the day we bough the place.

Reason I did this was when I filled the 55 I DID NOT brace under it. the floor "POPPED" on three separate occasions while filling that little 55.

When in doubt OVER KILL. it's the only way to be sure in the end.

The 160 has been up for 2 months and is still being cycled/finished. If it hasn't went through the floor by now or caused any sag. it's not going to.

In your case you need to figure out how to brace the upstairs from under and also put it against a load bearing wall.
If you don't know what that is like others said, look at your blue prints and read that article.
neither 55 or 160 is on a load bearing wall. that's why I braced it up. Once I heard what the 55 was doing there was no way I was going to just slap the 160 up and hope for the best.

Take a long hard look @ what you are proposing to do with that 200 and think it through. You don't want to be calling your home owners insurance or worse. Hurting someone beyond all FUBAR.

Rich
 
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